Sanctuary
by wingsofseyfert12
Summary: Kirino has second thoughts about her relationship with Kyosuke and breaks off their marriage on the night of their consummation. Kyosuke is alone once again without the comfort of his old friends and love interests. Kyosuke now has crucial choices to make. Will he rise above his guilt and regret and embark on his journey to manhood or will he fail?


Disclaimer: I do not own _My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute_ nor do I profit from the writing of this story.

Author's Note: Not exactly sure why I'm writing this. I have not watched this anime for years but I suddenly thought about the ending and how crappy it was. There are probably a million other fics depicting a different ending than the canon one but I figure I might as well give it a shot. Enjoy.

* * *

Kyosuke could see the dark outline of his beloved amidst the darkness of the room. He placed his hand on her naked back and could feel her skin crawl with goosebumps. It was selfish but Kyosuke was happy that she was nervous. It meant that he wasn't alone.

He then traced his finger down the ravine of her spine causing Kirino to shutter softly. Blood rushed towards his extremities as the forces of nature worked their will on him. This was only the beginning of their consummation and yet Kyosuke felt like he had just run a marathon.

"Are you nervous?" asked Kyosuke soothingly.

"S-Stupid. I never get nervous." replied Kirino with false bravado.

"Whatever you say."

"You don't believe me?"

Kyosuke smiled. He could tell that Kirino was beginning to ease up.

"Prove it."

Kirino was prideful but even she was beginning to have second thoughts about their relationship. They had gotten married two years prior, in secret of course, and had a platonic relationship with one another in order to test whether their feelings for each other were genuine.

She looked over at Kyosuke and felt her heart race.

They had chosen tonight, the night of her birthday, in order to consummate their marriage.

Kirino knew that they were at the point of no return. They could never just be brother and sister ever again and the concept frightened her.

It meant the beginning of a life long commitment to a man that was related to her biologically. Countless hours of playing erotic eroge were nowhere near sufficient to prepare her for this moment.

"Are we doing the right thing Kyosuke?"

Kyosuke stared at the ground glumly as he clenched his fists.

"I don't know."

"Today marks the second year of our marriage. I thought I was prepared for all this but now that we're here I can't do it."

Kyosuke was beginning to feel his blood stir.

"Are you seriously thinking of calling off our marriage?" replied Kyosuke bitterly.

"I warned you Kyosuke that this might happen. I entered this relationship with you because I wanted to see if what I felt for you was real. It turns out that I was wrong."

Memories flooded Kyosuke's vision. One person in particular had become a reoccurring theme one of which he just could not ignore.

"That night I bore witness to someone's utter love and devotion to me shredded into a million pieces. I can still hear her cry in inconsolable anguish as I drove a thagomizer into her heart. The guilt erodes my resolve like acid."

"Don't you dare blame me for your decisions. It was your idea for us to get into this relationship. I love you but I was prepared to let Kuroneko have you because she loved you more than I ever could. I told you this and yet you still insisted on chasing me." said Kirino bitterly.

"I can't help who I love Kirino."

"Only weak men say that Kyosuke. Your incessant infatuation with me has lost me two of my best friends!"

Kyosuke stood up in a flash of anger.

"So whose shirking from their accountability now? You had every opportunity to refuse me."

"I did! I said 'no' many times because I knew that I didn't love you that way but I decided to give this relationship a shot and see if I could grow to love you as Kuroneko did for you. I'm sorry Kyosuke but I don't love you, not like this. I realize that now."

"So these two years have been nothing more than a waste of time? Don't my feelings matter here?"

It was now Kirino's turn to get angry as she too stood up and met Kyosuke's wrathful glare with one of her own.

"Your feelings? What about Kuroneko? Apparently her feelings didn't fucking matter to you."

Kyosuke felt like he had been hit with a truck. He stood there silently as Kirino started to dress back up again.

"You want to know why you feel so guilty and wretched Kyosuke? It's because you loved Kuroneko...in fact you still do. It doesn't matter any more. I care for you Kyosuke and for what it's worth I'm sorry for misleading you. I'm partly to blame for all this mess. I thought I loved you but, in the end, it was only a silly infatuation."

"Am I going to have to suffer the pain of being alone again?" asked Kyosuke sadly.

A vein popped in Kirino's forehead when she heard this. She went forward and grabbed Kyosuke roughly by the hair and pulled his face up so that his eyes could meet hers.

"Grow up already and take accountability like a man! Honestly you're so pathetic and spineless that I'm still astonished that both Ayase and Kuroneko loved you the way they did. Start living for yourself for once and stop depending on women for your happiness! Do that and you'll realize that what you feel for me right now is not love but dependence."

With that Kirino embraced Kyosuke into a tight hug.

"You're my big brother Kyosuke and I will always love you but not like this. I have my own dreams and aspirations that I want to reach. I want to become a professional model. I have been approached by some amaeutur idol groups and I may give becoming an Idol a shot as well. If all else fails I know that my grades in school will insure that I get a scholarship to the college of my choice, Tokyo University. I don't want to become a mother and wife. That's not my destiny. What I want to know is what do YOU want in life Kyosuke?"

This was a question that Kyosuke never considered before. He had been so caught up with his relationship with Kuroneko first and then with Kirino that he never considered his own aspirations.

"I don't know."

"Well then I suppose that's part of the journey of life, isn't it Kyosuke?"

"What do I do?"

"You need to find that answer for yourself Kyosuke."

Kirino got up and started toward the door of their hotel room. She turned over to Kyosuke as she spoke her last piece.

"For what it was worth I enjoyed our relationship together. However I am officially calling this marriage off even though it was never official to begin with. Goodbye Kyosuke."

With that Kirino soon left leaving Kyosuke all alone.

* * *

Kyosuke wasn't left with much answers to his questions. Most of all was the overwhelming sense of loneliness that he was feeling. There was a time when he was surrounded by many friends and that life was fun and full of adventure.

One by one each of these friends had gone their separate ways with Kirino leaving, last of all. Kyosuke was aware of the irony of his situation and realized that he had come full circle.

The time for fun, games and romances were over. It was time for his journey toward manhood and, upon realizing this, had become infected with an overwhelming sense of _wanderlust_. He immediately started applying for work and, after a few weeks, had gotten a job working on a fishing boat.

This was dangerous, brutal work that would see him out at sea for weeks at a time. His mother had objected to the idea but his father was proud. He had been worried that his son would become a shut in who did nothing but watch anime and play video games all day. Add on top of the fact that most of his friends were girls and he was beginning to call his son's masculinity into question.

However these concerns were dashed when he heard of his son's manly pursuit and gave him his blessing.

So it came to pass that Kyosuke started on his journey to manhood out at sea. The first day was Hell with Kyosuke feeling like he had been put through a meat grinder. His hands were swollen and stiff, his muscles cried in agony and his legs felt like wooden blocks.

His coworkers were not tender, the majority of them being men in their forties and fifties who ribbed on the new "greenhorn".

Kyosuke wanted to quit but he refused to do so. His self-deprecating behavior and fear of commitment was what cost him to lose all his friends. Most of all it had cost him his relationship with Kuroneko.

At times, in the dead of night in his bunk amidst the snores of his fishing mates, he would think about Kuroneko. Was she still taking care of her siblings? Did she still keep in character or did she move past that phase?

He would even dream of those happy days when they would go out on dates, even if it were only to her house, and watch anime and eat snacks before being rudely awakened by the fog horn of their boat at five in the morning to start another long day of setting pots and hauling in fish.

Kyosuke found that working really hard helped him forget about his anguish and regrets. He also started to take joy in the company of his crewmates, who still teased him mercilessly, but treated him like one of their own. Kyosuke even started go drinking with them when they came ashore.

The little time Kyosuke spent on land was dedicated to his growing hobby for cars. He had once gone to a drifting event with one of his fishing mates and had suddenly become a fan. Kyosuke lived in a small, rundown apartment that cost him nothing to live in so he had ample money to fuel his new hobby.

He had gotten a new Toyota Scion, a manual transmission vehicle that was easy enough to drive in normal traffic and yet still possessed the power and control to go full throttle if he wanted. Kyosuke knew that he was never going to become a professional drifter but he enjoyed driving his car and would cruise at the Ebisu Circuit Mountain Pass whenever he got the chance.

Kyosuke spent the next five years of his life working out at sea and going to the tracks on his spare time. He still missed Kirino, Manami, Ayase and, most of all, Kuroneko.

He really was a stupid bastard.

As time went on he got over Kirino and realized what he truly felt for her was nothing more than childish infatuation.

It had been seven years since their break up and Kyosuke found that he was missing Kuroneko more and more.

The memory of that night was still so vivid that he could hear still hear her scream of anguish as her heart was torn apart by his selfish decisions. Sometimes he could drown her out by driving his Toyota Scion at the dead of night, full speed, while blasting techno and Initial D soundtracks.

This did not always work, however, and Kyosuke was forced to face the guilt of breaking the heart of the woman who loved him with all her heart.

As he sat in the dark of his rundown apartment Kyosuke realized that he wanted to have a family with a wife and kids and the woman he wanted in his life was Kuroneko.

For the first time in years Kyosuke allowed himself to indulge in his anger and regret and he roared out his indignation and pounded the floor of his apartment with his calloused fists imagining that it was his face that he was breaking apart.

* * *

Author's Note: Well...this is something. Honestly this is kind of a spur of the moment thing. This is meant to be a very short story with the next chapter probably being the last. Anyway let me know what you all think.


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